2010: A Year in Review...and Things to Come!

Luci felt snow for the first time in JANUARY...she obviously was not a fan!!

In FEBRUARY, Luci celebrated her first Valentine's day!

In MARCH, Luci started pulling up all over the place!!

APRIL was busy with Luci celebrating her first Easter

and getting tubes in her ears.

MAY was even busier with me celebrating my first Mother's day

and Luci celebrating her FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

We also went to Branson on Memorial Day weekend with our good buddy Kerri!!

If the Minnick's could be any busier, it was in JUNE! We went on a week long trip to Florida to meet Minnie and Mickey!


In JULY, we went to Texas to see a Ranger's game for Mitch's birthday!!

AUGUST had unbearable temps, so the Minnick's spent very little time outside...much to Luci's dismay.

SEPTEMBER was another busy month. We went back to Branson for Labor Day weekend.

Luci LOVED playing outside again!!


In OCTOBER, we went to Wild Things Farm,

grew some mums,

and dressed Luci up as Minnie for Halloween!!

In NOVEMBER, we celebrated Thanksgiving,

and went back to Branson for Black Friday shopping.

DECEMBER was filled with Christmas parties, family, light looking, Santa seeking, treat making, and present buying! Oh and my bday!!!

We had a BLESSED 2010 and we are looking forward to 2011!!

Things to happen in 2011:
-The arrival of Ellie Hoskyn (Quinn and Mark's daughter)
-The arrival of Baby Schenk
-Mom and Dad turn 60
-Nana turns 80
-Luci will turn 2
-Family trip to Wisconsin Dells
-Many, many Branson trips
-Possible trip to D.C.
-Lots of love, laughter, family and friends!!

P.S. Just in case you were wondering, Minnick #2 will more than likely NOT be making his/her debut in 2011!!! :-) Maybe 2012!!!!...or 2013...or 2014... :-)

Christmas Afternoon 2010

We spent Christmas afternoon in Paris with my Mom and Dad, Mark, Quinn and Brendon. We started out the afternoon with a delicious southern Christmas lunch!! Mom is a great cook! We had ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, macaroni and cheese, sliced tomatoes, fresh fruit salad, and sweet rolls! For dessert we had a yummy cheese cake, fudge, chocolate chip bundt cake, and Oreo truffles!! Needless to say, we were all stuffed!!!

Our Christmas Feast!


After our Christmas feast it was present time!! My Mom and Dad still do stockings for us and at the age of 30 and almost 25, my sis and I (and the others) still get Santa gifts! Mom's saying is "if you believe you receive"!!! So we believe!!! We opened gifts and stockings, and then spent the rest of the afternoon watching Brendon and Luci play with their new toys and watching Christmas movies!!!

The Minnick's

PePaw, Mimi, Brendon, and Luci

Miss Merry Christmas!

Opening presents is tough work so she decided to take a break!

Brendon is ready to open presents!

She is loving on her new ladybug pillow pet!

Mommy is helping her open a gift!!

Stocking Time!!

Playing with her ladybug tent!!!


It was a great Christmas!!! We are so blessed!!!

Christmas Morning 2010

This was Luci's second Christmas but her first Christmas morning at home. Last year there was a big snow/ice storm in Broken Arrow so we could not return home until Christmas night. We were very excited for Luci's first Christmas at home!! Usually she wakes up at 6:30 on the dot every single day, but she must not have got the memo that Santa had visited because we had to wake up her at 7:15 because my Mom and Dad had arrived to watch her open her gifts!! She was pretty sleepy when she woke up and was unsure what was going on, but she eventually warmed up and had a blast opening her gifts and playing with her toys!!

Christmas Morning!!

Stocking Time!!

Opening her kitchen!

Just playing with the kitchen!

Opening another present!

She sure does love her Minnie Mouse!

Opening up her DVD player!

Family pic!

I really thought that her kitchen would be her favorite toy, but she has absolutely loved playing with her baby doll/stroller/high chair set!!! Don't get me wrong, she is a cooking machine, but I think she is mostly cooking meals for that baby doll!! She loves her!!!

Taking the baby for a spin!


After she opened presents here, Quinn, Brendon, and Mark came over to eat Christmas breakfast! I made bacon, eggs, biscuits, and gravy!! It was yummy if I do say so!

Brendon and Luci checking out the new kitchen!

Eating breakfast!


After breakfast, we cleaned up and then got ready to head to Paris for Christmas lunch and presents at my Mom and Dad's house!! I will post more on that tomorrow!! I do have to say this was probably my most special Christmas. It was so special seeing Luci open her presents from us in our own home together!!!

By the way, I just noticed that my pics have 12/24/2010 as the date on them...that is weird because it was the 25th and my pics from the 24th have 12/24/2010 on too...strange...oh well. I will just have to write on the back of them I guess!

Christmas Eve 2010

We always spend Christmas Eve with Mitch's folks, so we headed up there on the 23rd to start our festivities! We spent the 23rd hanging out and getting ready for the following night's activities. We ran a few errands and just enjoyed catching up. Mitch's mom cooked dinner that night for us and Mitch's sister's families, his brother, and both of his grandparents. Most of the dinner was spent with us in laughter! There is no telling what is going to happen when everyone gets together! The next day (Christmas Eve) was spent in the kitchen preparing the big meal for that night and watching "A Christmas Story and "Christmas Vacation", both which are usual favorites!!! We sat down to a huge, delicious meal together around 6 and then played Dirty Santa and opened gifts afterwards!! We had a blast!! Mitch, Luci, and I left around 9:00 that night and headed back to Fort Smith so we could spend Christmas morning at our house and Christmas afternoon at my parent's house. (More posts on those later!)

The Minnick Family on Christmas Eve

Daddy and Luci

Momma and Luci

"Ahh! Santa is on his way!!!"

In the big rocking chair!

Opening a present with Momma!

Opening a present with Daddy!

P.S. I finally got a great pic of the four granddaughters together!! Check out my Facebook album "Merry Christmas 2010" to see it!!!

Another Blogger's Post

This link is to a blogger that I regularly read. I just thought her post was so beautiful that I had to share. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, and I hope everyone remembers the "reason for the season!"

http://theheirtoblair.com/2010/12/23/i-really-dont-think-motherhood-has-changed-in-2000-years/

Christmas Treats and Luci Strikes Again!!

I love Oreo Truffles! They are one of my favorite Christmas treats!!

Ingredients:
1 package of regular Oreos
1 package of softened cream cheese
Almond Bark (either white or chocolate)

Directions:
Crush Oreos in either food processor or blender. Mix with softened cream cheese. (I usually have to use my hands.) Form "dough" into small balls. Refrigerate balls for 20 minutes or so. Then, dip balls into melted almond bark. Allow to dry and then enjoy!!!

They are so decadent and delicious!!

This happened while I was trying to get dinner ready and had my back turned (why I couldn't hear her I don't know) and Mitch was running her bath water...we call this picture "birth control." :-)